Monday, May 19, 2014

[The 60's-70's Vault] November

Musicianship and innovation, two words, two terms that specify one of Sweden's most successful hard rock bands of all time. November were a band from Stockholm, formed in 1969 by Christer Stålbrandt (bass, vocals), Richard Rolf (guitar) and Björn Inge (drums, vocals). They chose to have their lyrics written in their mother tongue, except for their first single "Mount Everest" that appeared on their first album. The song sat for two weeks on the Swedish charts. The power trio decided to call themselves November, after sharing the stage with Fleetwood Mac on the 1st of November 1969.

The band debuted with "En ny tid är här..." which was released in the summer of 1970 on the Swedish label Sonet Records. Produced by themselves, the album was commercially succesful and very well performed. The aforementioned single was a great opener, followed by the hard rock dynamite "En annan värld" and the flute driven hard blues track "Lek att du är barn igen". As the record flows, one can easily feel the excellence of the beautifully structured songs and the clever change of rhythms that give the tracks this extra push so you know you want to listen to the record again and again.

November, entered the studio in early 1971 to record their second album "2:a November" which was released in the spring of 1971 by Sonet Records once again. Georg Wadenius, who a year later became the lead guitarist for Blood, Sweat & Tears, produced the album. The band in great form, offered an interesting record with a steady performance. Personal favorites are the album's lengthiest tracks "En lång dag är över" and "På väg" that show some fine psychedelic elements, but let's just not forget to mention the heavy ones "Men mitt hjärta ska vara gjort av sten" and "Ganska långt från Sergel" and the album's instrumental with the beautiful piano sound "Och så en morgon...".

The band's third and last album "6:e November" was released in 1972 by Sonet Records. The eight songs included here vary from hard rock (Starka tillsammans and Allt genom dej, both with prominent percussion) to mellower but nice pieces (Februari, Jorden gråter and the instrumental Så svårt att lämna dig). Another superb effort that sold much and had its place on the Swedish charts, along with the previous two albums.

November split up before the album was released. Björn Inge played on Energy's only album in 1974 and the same year Christer Stålbrandt performed on Saga's also only album. Sonet Records released in 1993 a collection of live performances from 1970 to 1971 on the album "Live". In 2007 the band reunited to play a few shows in Sweden and since no one has ever heard of them, leaving a legacy of three very good albums with qualitative hard rock-heavy psych music.